CALGARY – The University of Calgary Dinos men's volleyball team won its home opener against the University of Saskatchewan Huskies Friday in the Jack Simpson Gymnasium in a thrilling five set match (25-20, 21-25, 16-25, 25-23, 15-13).
The Dinos took control in the first set winning 25-20. Things shifted in the second set, with the Huskies leading the way to take the set 25-21. The Huskies took advantage of this momentum to clean up the third set 25-16. The Huskies were led in the second and third sets by Dylan Mortensen who offered up five kills in the second set, and four kills in the third.
After dropping the second and third sets, the Dinos gained momentum in the first half of the fourth set. After trailing for most of the set, the Huskies rallied back to tie it at 18-18 with Daulton Sinoski and Dylan Mortensen contributing to the Huskies surge. After trading a few points,
Tomas Sorra executed the final kill of the set to keep the Dinos alive as they headed into a fifth set.
Dinos Head Coach Road Durrant was pleased with the way his team performed in the fourth set.
"We went down 2-1 and I just thought as a team they stayed together," said the 14-year bench boss. "We came out in the fourth set, and I thought we battled really hard and found a way to win the fourth."
In the fifth, the Dinos took a six-point lead at 11-6 but the Huskies were able to crawl back within one at 12-11. Calgary was able to hold the visitors off, however, and a
Liam Laidlaw kill sealed the 15-13 win for the home side.
Mac McNicol shone in his first conference match for the Dinos, leading Calgary with 16 kills on the night.
"McNicol stepped up for us in a big way on the left side," said Durrant. "He's a fifth year guy and he wants to leave it out there this year and he did a good job."
On the Huskies side, it was third year outside-hitter Dylan Mortensen who led the way with 20 kills, followed by fifth year Daulton Sinoski with 16 kills.
The two teams will be in action again in the Jack Simpson Gymnasium Saturday at 5:30 p.m. MT live on CanadaWest.tv presented by Co-op.
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